The present teachings are predicated upon providing an improved feeding device, and specifically an improved automatic feeding device. There are numerous different feeder designs available on the market. Many of these designs employ a carousel design that is pre-filled by a user and each day the feeder dispenses and/or makes available the contents of one bin of the carousel until all of the bins are empty and the bins are refilled by the user. The carousel feeders generally have 5 to 7 bins such that one bin is dispensed each day and thus the carousel feeders limited to a five to seven day storage ability without user interaction. Other designs employ an auger, conveyor belt, or similar movement device that operates at a set speed for a set duration to dispense a target amount of food. However, the volume of food dispensed from feeding to feeding may be inconsistent and trial error by the user may be required until a desired volume of food is dispensed. Additionally, changing food type, food size, moisture of the food, of a combination thereof may affect the reliability of these designs, the amount of food dispensed, or both. Many of these designs have increased the number of motors and/or movie parts in an attempt to reliably dispense food; however, the increase in moving parts and motors may increase failures of the devices and/or food becoming lodged within the moving pats so that the device ceases to dispense food, dispenses inconsistent amounts of food, or both.
Examples of some automated feeder designs may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,000,719; 5,054,657; 5,908,007; 5,957,082; and 7,111,581; U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0096120; and International Patent Application No. WO2010/065385 all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
It would be attractive to have a feeding device that consistently dispenses a constant volume of food regardless of food type, food size, moisture of the food, or a combination thereof. It would be attractive to have a multi-day feeder that limits user interaction. What is needed is an automated feeder with a reduced amount of moving parts that reliably provides a constant amount of food regardless of food size, moisture, or both.